File Photo | The Grand Rapids PressGrand Valley State University President Tom Haas is candid about his take on how Republicans are approaching higher ed funding this year. University of Michigan President Mary Sue Coleman? Not so much.

A tale of two presidents.

One who was candid. The other, not so much.

The issue is the attempts by some conservative GOP members in the House to insert “social issue” language into the higher education budget bill. It’s causing quite the stir in Lansing.

Give the House R’s credit for standing-up for what they believe in.

The problem is there are other folks who believe they should do their standing-up somewhere else.

Take Dr. Tom Haas, who runs Grand Valley State University. He does not have a dog in this hunt, unlike Michigan State University and the University of Michigan, yet without batting an eyelash he declared, in clear terms, that the move to do this was ill-advised.

“If there’s a certain agenda by certain legislative leaders, we should keep that out of budgetary discussions.” Because?

“There’s an agenda there that just doesn’t make sense when you want to focus on access and affordability and attainment.”

In order words the debate over reporting stem-cell research data at the U of M and whether MSU should mandate health care for its students runs the risk of, as he puts it, confusing the citizens on “what’s important to the state.”

Well the likes of Rep. Bob Genetski (R-Saugatuck), who chairs the college budget committee, and his friends may not like what they hear, but at least they know where the GVSU president stands.

The story line is not the same when it comes to the U of M.

Given her chance to weigh in on the flap, Dr. Mary Sue Coleman took a different route ... the high grass.

Now look it. She was under no obligation to wade into this mess and for strategic reasons she probably concluded the less said the better.

So this is what Mlive got from her:

“These are tough issues. I’m confident we’ll get through them.”

Yes but is the ancillary debate getting in the way of the funding of higher ed, given the fact that the R’s want to take money from the two schools if they don’t toe the line?

“You know people have their issues but we’ll get through it. I’m very confident about that.” So “you are not going to say anything controversial about this?”

Now with a delightful smile and slight chuckle, she ends the conversation with, “I’m just so happy to be here today.”